Start your day with a bit of brew and chit chat.

(S1) DIY WEB DESIGN: CREATING YOUR WEB SITE

No need to explain why you need a website. But how to create one? In this hands-on session, designers will explain where to host, which software programs allow users to do what, choosing a name, avoiding the pitfalls, and more.

Moderator: Barb Freda, ASJA; specializes primarily on food topics but remains fascinated by all things "techy"; wrote a gadget column for RedPlum.com; hasn't met a machine she couldn't fix (including a laptop she took apart and repaired by replacing a hard drive) or a web site she couldn't build.

Panelists:

Nora Brown, a freelance web and graphic designer creating unique websites for writers, artists, and small businesses that express her clients' personalities while effectively promoting their work and services.

Ron S. Doyle, freelance computer guru who at the age of nine defragmented hard drives and organizing desktop icons for his mother's coworkers at $15/hour; currently he designs blogs, book platforms and digital portfolio sites for writers and other creative professionals.

Dorri Olds, founder of Manhattan-based website design/management, content writing/editing, branding business; as a writer, she's also contributed to several Chicken Soup for the Soul books, At Grandmother's Table and The Ultimate Christmas, as well as New Woman, New York Press, The Resident, Our Town, West Side Spirit, City Dog and Pomp & Circumstance; At Grandmother's Table and The Ultimate Christmas.

(S2) WRITE GREEN: ECO JOURNALISM

The future of the planet rests partly in your pen. Familiarize yourself with environmental issues before writing about them and find out how to sell these stories.

Moderator: Trish Riley, board member, ASJA; environmental journalist and author of The Complete Idiot's Guide to Green Living and The Complete Idiot's Guide to Greening Your Business; credits include GoGreenNation.org, E Magazine, Audubon, Hemispheres, Natural Home, Natural Health, The Miami Herald, and others.

Panelists:

David Biello, award-winning associate editor for environment and energy at Scientific American.com; contributor to Scientific American web and print; host of the 60-Second Earth podcast; contributor to the Instant Egghead video series; author of a children's book on bullet trains.

John Mecklin, editor-in-chief of Miller-McCune magazine, which investigates today's pressing issues and offers reasoned solutions. In 2009 the magazine received an UTNE Independent Press Award in the category of science/technology coverage and Library Journal named it one of America's ten best magazines.

Dale Willman, executive editor of Field Notes Productions; reports on environmental issues; podcasts for Slate.Com; conducts journalism training on four continents; public speaker on journalism issues; adjunct professor at Skidmore College; former editor, producer and reporter for National Public Radio; former correspondent for CBS Radio and CNN.

(S3) GO TEAM: COLLABORATIONS

Hear successful collaborators explain how to structure deals, work with the subject/celebrity, decide what deals to pursue, how to disengage when it's not working and how they differ from ghostwriters. An agent who specializes in collaborations will also be on hand to discuss how writers get matched with celebrity or expert clients.

Moderator: Echo Garrett, ASJA; collaborator on nonfiction business, inspirational memoir and travel books, including How to Make a Buck and Still Be a Decent Human Being, Dream No Little Dreams. My Orange Duffel Bag: A Journey to Radical Change and Why Don't They Just Get a Job? One Couple's Mission to End Poverty in Their Community.

Panelists:

Carol Jose, ASJA; journalist, speaker, and co-author/collaborator on numerous nonfiction books including You are Not Forgotten, the dramatic story of how a few women championed and got the MIA/POW flag designed, which won the Indie Book Gold Medal in the history category.

Shel Horowitz, prolific co-author of several titles including his eighth book, Guerrilla Marketing Goes Green: Winning Strategies to Improve Your Profits and Your Planet, which he collaborated on with the original Guerrilla Marketing man, Jay Conrad Levinson; known for turning unpublished writers into published authors, and developing the "story-behind-the-story" marketing materials to get those books noticed.

Denise Marcil, president of Denise Marcil Literary Agency, Inc.; represents a wide variety of commercial fiction and nonfiction, from suspense, thrillers, and contemporary women's fiction to management books and self-help, and often matches experts with collaborators; former board member and Literary VP of the Association of Authors' Representatives (AAR); chair of the AAR's Royalty Committee.

Madeleine Morel, owner of 2M Communications Ltd literary agency representing/matching collaborators and ghost writers in the nonfiction market; specializes in parenting, multi-cultural issues, memoir & personal growth, pop culture, health and beauty, cooking, relationships and psychology, and business.

Toni Sciarra Poynter, a nonfiction editorial consultant and published author with more than 25 years' experience in book publishing; formerly held senior positions at HarperCollins, William Morrow, Simon and Schuster, and Macmillan; books she has recently edited or collaborated on are under contract to HarperBusiness, HarperStudio, Simon and Schuster, and Harlequin; author of Now and Forever: Advice for a Strong Marriage, and coauthor (with Joe Navarro) of Louder Than Words: Take Your Career from Average to Exceptional with the Hidden Power of Nonverbal Intelligence.

(S4) A NOVEL APPROACH: MOVING INTO FICTION

You've been focused on nonfiction, but are there characters who keep whispering to you? Isn't it time to tell--and maybe sell--your story? A distinguished panel of authors, an editor and an agent will answer your questions about voice, stakes, story-line, dialogue, point of view, and writing techniques. Then you'll break into small groups to begin or outline the masterpiece inside you or for extra critiques.

Moderator: Carol Weston, ASJA; author of twelve books, including fiction and nonfiction for adults, teens, and kids; contributor to over twenty national magazines; advice columnist of Girls' Life Magazine; guest on Today, The View, and Oprah; her first book, Girltalk: All the Stuff Your Sister Never Told You, has been in print since 1985 and was translated into ten languages; author of four novels, including The Diary of Melanie Martin.

Panelists:

Dan Conaway, literary agent at Writers House; formerly an executive editor at Putnam Penguin and at HarperCollins; once worked at PolyGram Filmed Entertainment, Tribeca, and W.W. Norton; anonymous blogger Mad Max Perkins at BookAngst101.

Patty Dann, author of the coming-of-age novel Mermaids, which became the 1990 cult classic movie starring Cher, Winona Ryder, and Christina Ricci, Sweet and Crazy, Baby Boat: A Memoir of Adoption, and The Goldfish Went on Vacation: A Memoir of Loss (and Learning to Tell the Truth About It); cited by New York Magazine as one of the "Great Teachers of NYC."

Michelle Frey, executive editor of Knopf Books for Young Readers. Among her well-known books are Christopher Paolini's Inheritance Cycle and the 2005 National Book Award winner, The Penderwicks.

(S5) SREE EXPLAINS IT ALL

Sree Sreenivasan, new media director, professor, and dean of student affairs at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism; contributing editor, DNAinfo.com; former tech reporter, WNBC-TV. Sree Sreenivasan brings an all-new session that covers:

On-line researching. All writers know that it can be done, yet many still aren't taking advantage of the resources that are just a few clicks away.

Social networking tools. Hear why you should get a little more social on groups like Facebook, LinkedIn, on-line writing groups, and others. Then learn what you should, and shouldn't, share in social networking circles, and why.

Moderator: Karen Bannan, board member, ASJA; business, technology, health, personal finance, and parenting writer; editor of several custom publications; credits include Time, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Parents, Ladies' Home Journal, BusinessWeek Online, Forbes, PC Magazine, Shape, and Health

Speaker: Sree Sreenivasan, new media director and professor, Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism; tech reporter, WNBC-TV.

(S6) WHITHER NARRATIVE JOURNALISM?

The great tradition of narrative journalism is being affected by changes in the media. Writers and editors will define the genre and discuss the craft involved in creating it, especially in light of all the new media. Get motivated to bring narrative skills to bear no matter the medium or the size of the "news hole."

Moderator: Christine Larson, ASJA; contributor to The New York Times, US News & World Report, The Wall Street Journal, Redbook, More; co-author of The Family CFO: The Couple's Guide to Achieving Your Dreams and THIS is How We Do It: The Working Mother's Manifesto.

Panelists:

Constance Hale, ASJA; instructor in narrative journalism at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard; author of Sin and Syntax; writes about language, culture, politics and travel for magazines like The Atlantic Monthly, Smithsonian, Islands, and Afar.

David Patterson, an agent at Foundry Literary + Media; previously worked as an editor at Henry Holt and Company and at PublicAffairs, where books and authors whom he edited include Tulia: Race, Cocaine, and Corruption in a Small Texas Town and To Live or to Perish Forever: Two Tumultuous Years in Pakistan. He represents journalists and scholars especially, on a very wide range of topics, including memoir, along with some writers of fiction.

Larry Smith, founder of Smith Magazine, an online storytelling community best known for its six-word memoir project and bestselling book series; co-editor of the New York Times bestseller, Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous and Obscure from SMITH Magazine, as well as three other books in the six-word series; contributing editor and senior editor of ESPN Magazine; formerly the articles editor of Men's Journal, executive editor of Yahoo Internet Life, and editor at Might magazine.

(S7)PERFECTING PROPOSALS Literary agents and top book editors buying fiction and nonfiction spill secrets about when you need a proposal vs. a completed manuscript, what needs to be in that proposal, and how to enhance your platform. Theyll also cover 10 important things to know so you can avoid alienating agents and editors.

Moderator: Kelly McGonigal, Ph.D., ASJA; author of Yoga for Pain Relief: Simple Practices to Calm Your Mind and Heal Your Chronic Pain; a regular contributor to Yoga Journal and IDEA Fitness Journal; blogs for Psychology Today; health psychologist at Stanford University.

Michelle Brower is an agent with Folio Literary Management, and was formerly an agent with Wendy Sherman Associates. She has a Master's Degree in English Literature, and represents a wide range of quality fiction and nonfiction.

David Dobbs, author of four books including his most recent The Orchid and the Dandelion, which covers the genetic roots of behavior. He also writes for the New York Times Magazine, Atlantic Monthly, Slate, and National Geographic.

Rachel Kahan is a senior editor at GP Putnam's Sons, a division of the Penguin Group, and prior to that was an editor at Crown, a division of Random House. She acquires and edits commercial fiction and nonfiction.

Chris Parris-Lamb is an agent at The Gernert Company and represents both fiction and nonfiction writers. His nonfiction clients include sportswriters, journalists, memoirists, historians, critics, and academics, among others.

(S8) KID STUFF: CRAFTING BOOKS FOR CHILDREN

Children's books have always held a large segment of the book market. This hands-on workshop combines the process of basics, including finding an agent, penning the proposal, and whether or not you need to dream up illustrations. Then the session will break into small groups headed by editors and agents to develop and hone ideas, create characters and other essential elements.

Moderator: Barbara S. Hazen, ASJA; author of more than 60 children's picture books, readers and chapter books-fiction and nonfiction, in prose and verse for publishers such as Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins, Penguin, Clarion, Random House, and Hyperion. Titles include Tight Times, Katie's Wish, Where Do Bears Sleep? and Who Is Your Favorite Monster? Mama; she was editor at Golden Books and has taught writing children's books.

Panelists:

Grace Maccarone, executive editor at Holiday House, was formerly executive editor at Scholastic, where she worked on readers, picture books and the bestselling I Spy series. She is the author of many well-known children's' books including Itchy, Itchy Chicken Pox, Fun with First Grade Friends and Monster Math.

George Nicholson, at Sterling Lord Literistic, is responsible for selling the work of writers and illustrators for children. Before SLL, he founded Delacorte Press Books for Young Readers and Yearling Books. He also served as Publisher of Books for Children and Young People at Viking Press, as Publisher of Bantam Doubleday Books for Children, and has taught, published and lectured widely.

Sharyn November is senior editor for Viking Children's Books and editorial director for Firebird Books. Authors she has worked with include Lloyd Alexander, Laurie Halse Anderson, John Barnes, T.C. Boyle, Andrew Chaikin, Alison Goodman, Diana Wynne Jones, Ellen Klages and Pat Murphy. She is a two-time World Fantasy Award Finalist, once for founding Firebird and once for overall editorial work.

W. Terry Whalin, ASJA; is a publisher at Intermedia Publishing Group and a former literary agent and acquisitions editor at David C. Cook and Howard Books, a division of Simon & Schuster. He is the bestselling author of more than 60 nonfiction books including Jumpstart Your Publishing Dreams. A former instructor at the Institute of Children's Literature, Terry has published numerous children's books as well as other authors' children's books.

Phoebe Yeh is executive director at Harper Collins Children's Books. She and her editorial team are responsible for about 40 books annually for readers of all ages, but specialize in books for teens and 'tweens. Recent titles include Papa and Me by Arthur Dorros, Big Nate by Lincoln Peirce, Wing Ding by Kevin Markey and Lockdown by Walter Dean Myers. She was previously at Scholastic Press where she edited the Magic School Bus by Joanna Cole and Bruce Degan and was an editor of the SeeSaw book club.